This invention relates generally to systems for storing items for travel, including clothing, bulk non-perishable food, and hard durable items, and more particularly to soft stowage systems for compactly and flexibly securing and retaining items in a space flight environment.
State of the art stowage systems for space vehicles typically include multiple metal stowage containers and on-board lockers or racks for receiving either the containers or individual items to be stowed. However, these current approaches to manned space logistics management are too costly in terms of analysis, configuration control, late versus early access, crew time required, and wear on equipment. Furthermore, the available upmass (launch weight capacity) is a constant, as is the pressurized volume available for stowage, for each existing and planned mated space vehicle, and any stowage system developed must operate within those fixed parameters. Also, upcoming manned spaceflights on space orbiters (like the U.S. space shuttle) or space stations are planned to be of longer duration and will thus require additional passive stowage capability for crew clothing, consumables, and items required to support science research.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved stowage system which is lightweight, containerized, durable, convenient to transfer on-orbit, permits late access to load or remove items at the last minute, permits ready identification of the location of particular contents, and offers increased capacity over currently available systems.